Gallery Rifle Shooting

Gallery rifle shooting is a popular sport worldwide, it commonly uses rifles chambered for .22 long rifle and .357 calibres. Its popularity increased dramatically in Great Britain after the ban on civilian use of handguns in 1997, as the rifles used often fire the same calibre of ammunition as the handguns they replaced.

Rifles may be fired with either iron sights or scopes usually at five ring targets commonly place at 25 yards from the firing point. The targets may be fixed facing the shooters but are more commonly turning targets or on what is known as an advancing man. Turning targets start at 90 degrees to the shooters before rotating to face them and then returning to 90 degrees either at preset or random intervals for preset or random periods. The advancing man is a rail mounted target which starts at 25 yards from the shooter and when the shooter is ready begins to advance toward them. At 5 yards from the shooter the target rotates through 90 degrees so it is edge on to the firing point. Turning targets are generally engaged with 10 rounds all of which must be fired within a preset number of turns. The advancing man is engaged with only 6 rounds which once again must all be fired before the target rotates. Scoring is based on each rounds location in the 5 ring target with the centre being worth five and each consecutive ring diminishing in score by one. This gives a maximum score of 50 points. Gallery shooting is a "count in" event which means a round that breaks a line between rings is counted as the higher value, i.e. a round which breaks the line between the three and four ring is counted as a four. If a shooter hits the target when it is either edge on to them or whilst the target is in transition between face on and edge on they lose all the points from the target they are presently shooting. This rule applies to both turning targets and the advancing man. Such a shot is usually quite obvious as the target will often have a long tear down it's face where the round has travelled along the surface of the target.

Another popular gallery competition is "action shooting" which is often carried out in tandem with a fellow shooter. A common variation of this is a set of eleven knock down targets arranged along a frame. The five targets either side of the centre are of one colour with the centre target being of another colour. The aim is to be the first of the two shooters to knock down all five of the targets on the shooters own side and the centre target before the opposing shooter does. This is not only a battle of speed but also of accuracy as the targets are often little larger than the centre ring of standard 25 yard five ring targets.

Gallery shooting is an excellent introduction to shooting for people of all abilities and ages, especially in the .22 calibre as the rifles are relatively light and the small calibre generates little recoil making the rifle easy to handle. It is also primarily shot whilst standing up and without the need for specialised shooting jackets that sports such as target rifle shooting require making it less restrictive and less daunting to a novice shooter.